


The Gingerbread Competition

by alafaye



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-21
Updated: 2018-01-21
Packaged: 2019-03-07 20:59:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,481
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13443279
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alafaye/pseuds/alafaye
Summary: Andromeda has entered the competition for many years now, though she's never won. Narcissa was looking for something to do. Too bad they both think they can win. (Post war.)





	The Gingerbread Competition

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the 2017 mini_fest; this was prompt 4 _Things get heated during the Magical Gingerbread competition_. First posted [there](https://mini-fest.livejournal.com/177285.html).

Andromeda set her gingerbread house on the table very carefully and stepped back. She let out a breath -- slowly! -- and smiled. It looked wonderful. A small cottage, like the one she had lived in when she was first married, with a nice fence and a gingerbread couple, waving. She clapped her hands together and turned around. She would win this year. She just knew it.

Narcissa swallowed hard and added just a little more swirl to the top of the turret. She had to bring in the whole piece completed, but had been allowed to add just one more flourish when she arrived at the small building where the competition was being held. She took a deep breath and nodded. She was new to baking, but her charm work had always been excellent. She would prove that she was more than just a Malfoy.

~~~

"And up we go!" Harry cheered as he lifted his arm the same time as Draco. Teddy giggled and swung his legs, suspended in the air.

"Again, again!" he chanted.

Draco grinned and shook his head. "Not right now, Teddy. We're about to go into a building." 

Teddy's eyes widened as he looked inside the converted barn. "Wow. That's a lot of gingerbread, Uncle Draco. Will we be able to eat any of it? Grandma's gingerbread is so good. Do you think Mrs. Narcissa's will be as good?"

Harry laughed and kneeled down. "Maybe. You'll have to ask them, but remember that we don't know that they both decided to enter the contest. Okay?

Teddy nodded solumnly. "I know nothing."

Draco snorted. "Oh, yes, this is going to go wonderfully."

Harry dusted off his trousers as he stood up and took Teddy's hand again. As they walked into the barn, he asked Draco, "How much trouble do you think we're going to be in?"

Draco smiled tightly. "I expect we shall not make it out alive."

"We could hide behind Teddy?"

"Brilliant plan. Excellent. Yes, we're all saved now."

"Git."

~~~

Narcissa glared across the aisle and Andromeda returned it. Her fingers itched for her wand, but she closed her hands into fists and looked away. It wouldn't do to cast a hex or destroy Andromeda's work. For one, that would just be petty. For another, Andromeda's small cottage was too nice to mess up. No, she would just have to keep her wand tucked away and focus on being calm. 

Andromeda bit her lip when Narcissa looked away. They had started talking again, mostly because of Teddy and the boys, Harry and Draco, but it had evolved into something like siblings again. Still, this competition she thought would not help them at all. Maybe she could make peace? She took a deep breath and walked across the aisle.

~~~

Teddy was amazed by the houses on display and Harry smiled, thinking of the kit he'd bought the other day. He was sure after this, Teddy would enjoy putting together one of his own.

"There's grandma and Mrs. Narcissa!" Teddy yelled.

Harry took a deep breath and let it go. He let Teddy run off, assured that it would be okay. "This is it."

Draco snorted. "We're all going to die, Harry. I hope you know that."

Harry winced. "I'm sure it'll be okay."

"Oh, yes, because they aren't already arguing," Draco hissed.

Harry frowned and studied the two women. They were both clearly trying to pay Teddy attention, but there were more words exchanged to each other. Teddy waved Harry and Draco over, clearly unconcerned. Luckily.

"I'm blaming you," Draco bit out. "It's totally your fault."

Harry rolled his eyes and jogged toward his family.

"And Uncle Harry said we couldn't eat any of it," Teddy was saying. "Not unless you said we could."

"That's right, dear," Andromeda said. She was glaring at Narcissa. "Because they're part of the competition."

Narcissa lifted her chin. "Maybe Teddy could let us know which one is the better of our houses."

Andromeda waved her hand. "That's not fair to him. He'd have to choose between the two of us and he'd feel too pressured."

"I think they're both the best!" Teddy piped up.

Both women froze and looked down. "But, Teddy," Andromeda said. "You haven't seen mine yet."

Teddy grinned. "Nu-uh. I watched them both being made!"

Narcissa and Andromeda looked at each other and then down at the little boy. "You watched them being made?" Narcissa asked.

Harry giggled nervously and pulled Teddy -- who was wide eyed and purple haired -- toward himself. "I think you're both in the finals, yeah? I don't see a lot of good houses here and I'm sure you both worked hard."

Draco dropped his head into his hand, shaking his head. Narcissa narrowed her eyes and Andromeda crossed her arms.

"You knew, all three of you, that we both were entering the competition?" Narcissa asked quietly.

Draco peeked out from behind his hand. "Andromeda always enters?"

Harry winced. "We thought you knew."

Teddy edged behind Harry when both witches drew out their wands. "Now we're in trouble."

Draco held out his hands, trying for peace. "An honest mistake. We just forgot to let you know."

"Maybe something simple," Narcissa said. "A minor tap dancing charm? We wouldn't want to injure the gingerbread before the judging."

Andromeda raised an eyebrow, looking very much like a Black at that moment. "So assured that I'll be winning?"

Harry took a step back.

Narcissa narrowed her eyes at her sister. "Oh, no. I simply want a fair and even competition."

"Yes because a castle _that_ size will hold up to the testing."

"I'll have you know that I tested it thoroughly! I can certainly win this!"

"I doubt that. Every year I have gotten closer and closer to the first prize and I will not lose this year to some... Some... Upstart!"

Harry wrapped an arm around Teddy as two hexes met in a violent clash of purple and green. They each threw another hex, but their aim was off, firing into a table and a wall.

And then chaos descended.

~~~

Harry pulled another piece of gingerbread out of Teddy's hair and threw it into a garbage bin nearby. "It could've been worse."

Draco stopped pulling icing out of his hair. He'd gotten a face full of a house that had exploded. Teddy luckily had only had pieces land in his hair. Harry was bruised from being knocked into a table. Apparantly, gingerbread competitions were fierce. 

"In what way could it have been worse?" Draco asked darkly. "There isn't a single entry left! It was all destroyed! Most of the tables burned or lost a leg. The walls got scorched."

"It's still standing and no one died," Harry pointed out. "And all injuries were patched up here."

Teddy grinned from under his dark blue hair, cheeks bulging with gingerbread. "And there was some left to eat!"

"How did he get any of it?" Andromeda asked, walking up to them from behind. Narcissa was next to her.

Harry shared a disconcerting look with Draco. "I'm... Not sure. Ted?"

Teddy only kept smiling. Draco rolled his eyes. Harry went back to pulling out gingerbread. He should probably give up since there were mostly crumbs left, but he worried about the sugar in the bath. 

Narcissa cleared her throat. "That was a nice stinging hex, Andy."

Andromeda smiled. "And your burning hex has come a long way. Tea?"

Narcissa nodded. "Tea would be lovely. You may as well come along, Teddy. You've had more than enough sugar, today."

Andromeda held out her hand and Teddy scrambled toward her. Harry sighed and took their silence as they left as a sign that he wouldn't be easily forgiven. Not that he'd thought he'd done anything wrong.

"As I said, it's all your fault," Draco pointed out. He scowled at his hand, caked with sugar. "I said we should have let Teddy tell them earlier."

Harry brushed his hands off, wincing. "I could make it up to you at home? In the shower?"

Draco narrowed his eyes. He began to tap his fingers on his leg. Harry bit his lip and tried to look earnest. Draco finally nodded. "You can make it up to me in the shower followed by breakfast in bed tomorrow. And you'll throw out the gingerbread kit I know you got Teddy. No need to have them be reminded of this."

"Is that all?" Harry asked. He couldn't tell and after all, if Draco's mother and aunt couldn't easily forgive, Draco wouldn't either.

"For now," Draco said. "If, in the next week, Teddy asks about gingerbread, you have to distract him."

Harry sighed. "Responsibly?"

Draco nodded. "Responsibly."

Harry held out his hands. "All right. I will. Shall I Apparate us?"

Draco held out his hand. Harry pulled him close. "I suppose it's a given that I have to apologize, too?"

"Naturally."


End file.
